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  • 2 Head Canner

    Hello all. Wanting advice when looking for a 2 head canner. We are exploring our options currently and wanting to branch out. We will be using an Oktober can seamer. Currently considering Xpressfill xf4500c or the xpressfill xf2200. Does anyone have any information on these two options. Or if anyone has any information on a similar product? Thank you in advance!

  • #2
    How many cases are you planning on doing an hour? We are a 10 BBL Brewery that has been looking into getting a canner for some time. The entry level ones around here are "Manual" or "Semi Automatic" Canners from Cask. MCS or SAMS. These units are selling for $30,000 $40,000 used (Canadian). They are prone to O2 pickup and very slow. The mACS was one we considered but with a labeler or a slever, date coder, twist rinse, $100,000 USD. This would at least give us more than a 60 day shelf life because of the low O2 pickup. The Co2 purge and little blast before the cap goes on are key to this. If you are trying to cap manually there is very little time to cap quick enough to prevent o2 pickup.

    Now we are looking seriously at something besides a CASK, it's called the MicroCanner MC-Flex (3 Head). $60,000 US. 24 CPM (355ml) 18 CPM (473ml). The in-feed table and flip rinse are great designs. Much better than the cask twist rinse or de-pal. It has a small foot print. This will do a skid of 24x54x473ml cans (1296 cans) in about 70 minutes. The labeler we are looking at is 3rd party and ads another $30,000 but you may not need one right away.

    I guess I am saying for $50,000 you will get something that will never be a) fast enough and b) low enough o2 pickup to be sustainable. It's seems like a lot of money to spend close to $70,000 for the MC-Flex but it can be ran with 2 people, give a good quality fill, and is fast enough to last your brewery for years to come. It's also built with non proprietary, readily available parts. Hope this is helpful.
    Leigh Davison
    Head Brewer, Partner & Beer Alchemist @ Schoolhouse Brewery
    Windsor, Nova Scotia
    "The Beer with Class"

    Comment


    • #3
      How many cases are you planning on doing an hour? We are a 10 BBL Brewery that has been looking into getting a canner for some time. The entry level ones around here are "Manual" or "Semi Automatic" Canners from Cask. MCS or SAMS. These units are selling for $30,000 $40,000 used (Canadian). They are prone to O2 pickup and very slow. The mACS was one we considered but with a labeler or a slever, date coder, twist rinse, $100,000 USD. This would at least give us more than a 60 day shelf life because of the low O2 pickup. The Co2 purge and little blast before the cap goes on are key to this. If you are trying to cap manually there is very little time to cap quick enough to prevent o2 pickup.

      Now we are looking seriously at something besides a CASK, it's called the MicroCanner MC-Flex. $60,000 US. 24 CPM (355ml) 18 CPM (473ml). The in-feed table and twist rinse are great designs. Much better than the cask twist rinse or de-pal. It has a small foot print. This will do a skid of 24x54x473ml cans (1296 cans) in about 70 minutes. The labeler we are looking at is 3rd party and ads another $30,000 but you may not need one right away.

      I guess I am saying for $50,000 you will get something that will never be a) fast enough and b) low enough o2 pickup to be sustainable. It's seems like a lot of money to spend close to $70,000 for the MC-Flex but it can be ran with 2 people, give a good quality fill, and is fast enough to last your brewery for years to come. It's also built with non proprietary, readily available parts. Hope this is helpful.
      Leigh Davison
      Head Brewer, Partner & Beer Alchemist @ Schoolhouse Brewery
      Windsor, Nova Scotia
      "The Beer with Class"

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by firstmile View Post
        Hello all. Wanting advice when looking for a 2 head canner. We are exploring our options currently and wanting to branch out. We will be using an Oktober can seamer. Currently considering Xpressfill xf4500c or the xpressfill xf2200. Does anyone have any information on these two options. Or if anyone has any information on a similar product? Thank you in advance!

        We did a collaboration with a few other Nano Breweries and will be using the xf2200 paired with the Oktober seamer on Monday. The biggest difference I see is open top seal on foam versus counter-pressure. Either way you have to move the can to the seamer. I will follow up with my thoughts after we give it a go.
        Jason Blair
        MadCow Brewing Company

        Comment


        • #5
          follow up

          Originally posted by madcowbrewing View Post
          We did a collaboration with a few other Nano Breweries and will be using the xf2200 paired with the Oktober seamer on Monday. The biggest difference I see is open top seal on foam versus counter-pressure. Either way you have to move the can to the seamer. I will follow up with my thoughts after we give it a go.
          How did this run go?

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by autumn arch View Post
            How did this run go?
            I have to say I wasn't impressed. But I think there was extenuating circumstances causing the issues. The filler took too long, both to get used to and just the fill rate. We were filling off the brite tank with a very long hose to the filler. The foam issue was apparent at first until it got rolling. The seamer worked great. It was the homebrew version of the seamer, and our brewery since has purchased the Pro model.
            Jason Blair
            MadCow Brewing Company

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by madcowbrewing View Post
              I have to say I wasn't impressed. But I think there was extenuating circumstances causing the issues. The filler took too long, both to get used to and just the fill rate. We were filling off the brite tank with a very long hose to the filler. The foam issue was apparent at first until it got rolling. The seamer worked great. It was the homebrew version of the seamer, and our brewery since has purchased the Pro model.
              I have one of these fillers coming tomorrow. Other than the foam were there any issues? We really don't have foaming issues since we do Cider and Mead.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by AmbrosiaOrchard View Post
                I have one of these fillers coming tomorrow. Other than the foam were there any issues? We really don't have foaming issues since we do Cider and Mead.
                We did 10 cases (16oz) with the filler yesterday in about an hour including cleanup. It took about another hour for setup and practice.

                Make sure your fluid is cold, I had the tank down to 34F. It will also help to run some ice water through the filler to get everything down to temperature, or just have a few sacrificial cans that will have a lot of foam.

                Comment

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